


The Sea

by emdskan



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, mermaids!!!!, read til the end for a little surprise ship :]
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 21:15:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18786358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emdskan/pseuds/emdskan
Summary: Chaeyoung has a different day at the beach. Also, mermaids can grant wishes.





	The Sea

**Author's Note:**

> i was feeling a little blue earlier so i wrote something to cheer myself up, i'm not sure what this is exactly but i hope you enjoy it :)

The water is cool around Chaeyoung’s feet, a nice feeling amidst the awful heat surrounding everything else around her. There’s a ruffling on the trees and she watches as a seagull flies overhead, soaring through the orange tinted sky. She closes her eyes, feet swaying softly with the current.

It’s almost time to go, her grandma did ask her to be back before dark, but Chaeyoung doesn’t really want to. Going back just means pretending everything is normal when all she can think about is the thin envelope buried deep under her mattress. Her fingers grip the wooden boards of the pier harder and she tries to will away the tears threatening to come out.

“Not a lot of people come here.” A voice startles her and Chaeyoung lowers her head to hide behind her blonde hair as she scrambles to wipe away the few stray tears that escaped.

“Excuse me?”

Chaeyoung takes a better look and the words come from a girl swimming about a meter away from the pier she is sitting. She seems to be effortlessly floating in the water, long auburn hair shining in the orange light, piercing eyes fixed curiously on Chaeyoung.

“Not a lot of people come here.” She repeats the the exact same words, as if she assumed Chaeyoung just hadn’t heard her properly the first time.

“I come here all the time.” It comes off sounding more defensive than she wanted.

“No, you don’t.”

Chaeyoung stares at her, perplexed expression in place. What even is the point of this? The girl just stays there, stoic, not angry though, not anything actually, just, there. It’s a bit unnerving.

Chaeyoung clears her throat, “I _came_ here all the time. When I was younger.” She's not sure why she's explaining herself to a stranger.

The girl makes an “oh” with her mouth, nodding a little to herself. Chaeyoung expects her to leave after this but she continues to float there, swaying slightly with the water. It’d be fine if she went back to doing whatever her thing was but she’s still just staring at Chaeyoung with those dark eyes. Silently. Chaeyoung shifts in place, asking, “uhm, do you need something?”

“Not really,” she shrugs, swimming closer to lean against the pier, “I come here most days and this is the first time I’ve seen anyone.”

“Ah… Well, I’m sorry?”

“It’s not a bad thing,” the girl shakes her head, “the sea is so vast you never meet the same thing twice, it tends to make everything unique.” She smiles, white teeth and black eyes, uncannily beautiful. “I’m Tzuyu.”

Ever since coming back home Chaeyoung has been avoiding almost every living soul because, even if she knows they don’t mean harm, everyone just ends up bringing more anxiety when they ask her about all the plans she has for the future, plans she’ll never get to put to practice now. Looking into Tzuyu’s eyes though, it’s like the girl has an oddly calming aura around her and Chaeyoung’s smile at her is the first natural one she gives in a while.

“Chaeyoung.” Tzuyu extends a hand to her and Chaeyoung giggles, shaking it. “You’re a serious one, aren’t you?”

Tzuyu shrugs. “I guess. Can I sit?” she asks, pointing to the spot next to the blonde girl.

Chaeyoung just slides to the side and watches Tzuyu pull herself up next to her, legs also dangling off the edge into the sea.

She follows a drop of water as it travels Tzuyu’s sun-kissed skin, shoulders to arms to thighs, the traces of it making her glow in the dusk light.

“So, Chaeyoung,” Tzuyu turns her dark eyes to her once more and Chaeyoung notices for the first time how tall she is, even sitting down, “why did you use to come here when you were younger?”

Listen, nervous around pretty girls is definitely _not_ how Chaeyoung would describe herself, not after she learned girls like confidence. She makes sure to have it basically dripping from her words when she decides to talk to a cute girl, but right now her mind is sort of like a giant cotton candy, sticky and sweet and messy. She feels exposed under Tzuyu’s gaze as if the girl could immediately see the effect she has on people, and yet Chaeyoung can't find it in herself to look away.

“I ran away from home once, when I was 6,” Chaeyoung says, honestly. She leans forward dipping her fingers in the cool ocean water, tender smile forming. “Took everybody almost the whole day to find me out here.”

“Why did you run?”

“I got upset when my parents told me I couldn’t be a mermaid,” Chaeyoung replies, sheepishly. “Don’t laugh,” she adds, after Tzuyu snickers. It might have been more effective if Chaeyoung herself weren’t laughing. “I got to see some dolphins that day though so, totally worth it.”

Tzuyu nods. “Dolphins are very sweet.”

Chaeyoung raises her eyebrows. “You work with them?”

Tzuyu hums for a second. “You could say that.”

Chaeyoung means to ask more but Tzuyu smiles at her again and Chaeyoung gets the same hazy feeling as before, whatever questions she had suddenly overshadowed by how _good_ Tzuyu smells, she’s sure it’s just ocean water but it feels likes there’s something beyond it, the more she’s aware of it the more it reminds Chaeyoung of the sleepy end of days at the beach during her childhood, the safety of being carried home in fathers shoulders.

“Your turn.” Tzuyu splashes her with some water and it works to make the mist go away, the abrupt memory feeling more like a far away dream with each passing second.

“Is interrogating strangers a pastime of yours?” She teases.

“Only the interesting ones.”

Chaeyoung is a little surprised Tzuyu goes along with her flirting, the taller girl had seemed somewhat aloof despite her curious nature.

“Why do you come here?” Chaeyoung asks her.

“I like how quiet it is, crowds are not my favorite.” Chaeyoung sees her scowl at the words, like a toddler talking about a gross vegetable they were forced to eat. “I also like how unassuming it is,” Tzuyu fixes her with a conspiratory glance, “but if you go a little deeper you’ll find some amazing things.” She leans closer, bringing herself to Chaeyoung’s eye level so she can point to something northeast of them, into the sea. The smell of salty water hits Chaeyoung again. “If you go that way for example, there’s a huge coral reef you can see even from barely below the surface.”

Chaeyoung looks at the dark blue sea, stretching as far as she can see. The ocean breeze burns through her nose and the sun twinkles in the water, shining in her eyes. Tzuyu’s hand comes to rest at her waist and Chaeyoung’s head feels that faint dizzying sensation again, the sort of lightheadedness that would accompany butterflies in the stomach. Tzuyu’s touch is cool and a little wet, the water seeps through her clothes but Chaeyoung doesn’t mind.

“I’d love to see it,” she tells Tzuyu. “You smell really good.”

Chaeyoung feels her cheeks heat up almost immediately, an apology at the tip of her tongue when she sees Tzuyu break out into a huge grin. “Thank you, I’ve been told,” she says cheekily, taking her hand away and putting back the distance between them. Chaeyoung wishes she stayed a bit more.

She watches Tzuyu scoot herself a little further, swinging her legs back and forth, apparently distracted for a few minutes before asking her next question, “why come back?”

“Ah,” Chaeyoung chuckles, “that's not really a fun story.”

“I still want to know.”

Chaeyoung doesn't know what to reply, Tzuyu's blunt way is still disconcerting for her. No matter how hard she tries she can’t place the girl next to anyone she's ever met before.

She settles for the truth then, it seems to be what Tzuyu wants so it's what she'll give to her. Besides, behind the calm tides in Tzuyu's dark eyes stands a piercing intensity. She couldn't lie even if she wanted to.

“I just needed a place to think,” she says, the rejection letter coming to mind, “I didn’t get into my dream school.” Chaeyoung fiddles with a loose splinter, the wood threatening to break under her fingers. Shame settles in like a hot wave when she finally admits out loud to the feelings she’s been working hard to repress. “It’s a stupid thing to still be upset about, I know, it happens all the time and it’s not like I have to stop painting because of it…”

“I’m sure it’s okay for you to feel upset about it, did anyone make you feel otherwise?” Tzuyu’s eyebrows curl in a small frown and Chaeyoung thinks it makes her look like an annoyed puppy.

“No!” Maybe she’s a little too enthusiastic because Tzuyu’s eyebrows immediately shoot up and Chaeyoung deflates, continuing significantly quieter in her embarrassment, “my family was very nice about it and I haven’t told any of my friends yet but, I know they’d be supportive, it’s just,” Chaeyoung huffs in frustration, lets herself fall back in the wood floor, “I worked so hard for it and now it just feels like a failure.”

Tzuyu lies back as well, a stark contrast in how she gently lowers herself down compared to Chaeyoung’s angry flop. “I can’t say that I understand.”

If the words were coming from anyone else it might've made her feel bad, a sour reminder that she failed in a place other people haven't, but Tzuyu's black eyes feel genuine when the fall on Chaeyoung, she really doesn't understand why it's a bad thing. It makes a giggle bubble its way out of Chaeyoung's lips and Tzuyu smiles along with her.

"You are so weird."

Tzuyu shrugs. "I just see things differently."

Their conversation falls silent for a moment, it’s not uncomfortable but Chaeyoung still seeks for something to say, an underlying desire to seem interesting taking control of her.

"You know, my grandpa used to tell me this really weird story when he was alive," she starts and she doesn't really know why she's bringing this up now out of all the things, maybe it's because nothing really feels real looking up at the purple sky as they listen to the living sounds of the ocean but Tzuyu's immediate hum of interest nudges her further, "I never heard it anywhere else."

"What was it about?"

"Mermaids," she says. "He said mermaids didn't lure people into the ocean, sailors used to go out and search for them on their own. You see,” she adjusts herself closer to Tzuyu, “mermaid kisses can grant wishes, but only if you're strong enough to survive them trying to pull you into the deep." Chaeyoung tries to sound spooky but it comes off more like a villain from a Scooby Doo episode.

Tzuyu uses one of her hands to push Chaeyoung's face and it smears water all over her cheek as they both laugh over her inability to be absolutely terrifying.

"I don’t really know the point of it to be honest, I guess maybe a cautionary tale to not go looking for things that aren’t yours?” Chaeyoung shrugs. “I just always thought they were super cool.”

“The mermaids?”

“Yeah! I mean, they have this awesome power and because of it random men stalk them trying to make out?” Chaeyoung fixes Tzuyu with the most serious stare she can muster. “That sounds like a nightmare.”

Tzuyu breaks out in laughter. “It really does,” she says amidst giggles. “What if your grandfather forgot some things though?”

“You know something about it?” Chaeyoung’s eyes light up.

“I just think we could make it more interesting.”

Chaeyoung hums. “What’s your theory?”

“What if… they didn’t drown people by choice? Maybe their power required people to ask for their innermost desire, and if they weren’t honest about it then they would be trapped by the mermaid’s thrall and willingly follow them down the waves.”

She’s way better at sounding scary than Chaeyoung.

The smaller girl sits up and looks down at Tzuyu’s long body spread out on the wooden boards of the pier. She’s looking up at Chaeyoung expectantly, smirk tugging quietly at the corner of her lips as she waits for the blonde girl’s reply. Chaeyoung feels it again looking at Tzuyu, that overwhelming sensation in her mind when she meets Tzuyu’s eyes _just right_. This time the other girl doesn’t look away or move though, instead she holds her eyes on Chaeyoung’s, patiently waiting as if no time could pass while they were on their own bubble in the world.

It’s a weird wave of feelings, there’s the usual warm haziness but this time it pulls back a bit and Chaeyoung feels an intense urge to get closer mixed with a faint warning sign in the back of her mind, like a tide being pushed and pulled by Tzuyu.  

She almost goes, her body leans in, drawn to the cold depths shining from Tzuyu. She’s halfway down when she stops, blinking. Tzuyu is still lightly smirking at her, eyes shifting between Chaeyoung’s, waiting to see what she will do.

Chaeyoung pushes herself back, eyebrows furrowing. “I, uhm, I’m…”

“What would you do if you met one right now?” Tzuyu’s words are charged with an energy Chaeyoung doesn’t comprehend. “Would you ask for a kiss?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” Tzuyu sits back up, damp hair dripping on the wood. “She could undo your rejection.”

Chaeyoung’s head is heavy as she tries to navigate her thoughts. The sky has turned blue at this point and she feels tired under the moonlight. “I don’t think I should.”

“What if she wanted to?”

Tzuyu’s question feels invasive in a way and a shiver runs down Chaeyoung’s spine. The girl next to her no longer a girl but a woman, tall and imposing, almost as if her ethereal aura had been unveiled by the pale moon shining down on her. Chaeyoung can’t avert her gaze, struggling to find her words.

“I want to get in, I planned my whole life around going there but I don’t think it’s right to ask for it.” Blonde hair sticks to her wet cheek when Chaeyoung shakes her head to clear her thoughts. “What I want, what I truly want is to just be someone I can be proud of, and I think I have to work for it,” she looks up at Tzuyu with a sheepish smile, “besides that seems like too much of an abstract wish to impose on Miss Mermaid.”

Tzuyu doesn’t smile along with her, she just reaches a hand to softly hold one of Chaeyoung’s. It’s chilly and a little moist and for the first time something in Chaeyoung’s brain lights up to remind her Tzuyu actually hasn’t touched water in a while. How is she still wet?

She doesn’t have time to think because the saltwater smell hits her nose again and Chaeyoung looks up from her hands to find Tzuyu centimeters away from her face. “What do you think would happen if I kissed you right now?”

The words wrap around her head like silk threads, and the world stops existing while Tzuyu speaks, it’s just Chaeyoung and _her_ , her cold eyes, her moonlight skin, the way Chaeyoung feels woozy every time she gets a little too close, and for a moment Chaeyoung loses herself completely, gone into whatever Tzuyu is.

But just for a moment, because a second later she feels the corner of her lips tug up as she answers, “a pretty girl would kiss me?”

She feels kind of proud of the smile that blossoms on Tzuyu’s face.

She feels a lot of things when that smile meets her own lips. Tzuyu’s hand pulls on her neck and Chaeyoung’s mouth slides easily against Tzuyu’s icy lips, it’s not slow, or hard, or soft, or sensual. It’s not anything and all at once.

It’s their own thing.

Kissing Tzuyu feels like diving for the first time, the water is freezing and you have no choice but to let it seep into you from all sides until you forget what it's like to not be surrounded by it. Everything about Tzuyu is surrounding her, from the wet hands grasping at her hair to the ocean breeze burning her nostrils and when Tzuyu slips her tongue in her Chaeyoung drowns. Her body shivers and she clings harder to Tzuyu, searching for anything that will take her to the surface while at the same time wanting nothing more than to sink deeper into the woman holding her.

It lasts for no longer than a couple of seconds but when Tzuyu pulls away Chaeyoung pants, the shock from being completely assimilated into something and then trusted out into her old self making her body tremble as if she had just stepped out of a frozen lake.

Tzuyu touches her cheek again and this time she feels warm and cozy, Chaeyoung leans into her touch. “It wasn’t true,” she says in her usual matter-of-factly way.

Chaeyoung can tell there’s a subtle warmness under it though.

“What?” Her head is still spinning from the kiss and now there’s a tingling sensation in the back of her head that wasn’t there before, Chaeyoung rubs the wet hair around the spot. Did she hit her head and just didn’t realize it?

“It doesn’t have to be your innermost desire, that part wasn’t true.” Tzuyu removes her hand from Chaeyoung’s face and the smaller girl whines. “You’ll feel warm in a second.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I think you can see it now if you want to,” is all Tzuyu says.

Chaeyoung hugs herself, hands rubbing both arms vigorously. A mostly futile attempt when the cold spreads through her from the inside, as if someone had pushed it deep inside of her. She looks at Tzuyu, trying to understand what the girl is talking about, everything looks the same as always, Chaeyoung’s eyes fall from Tzuyu’s hair and eyes to her lips, to her shoulders and taut stomach all the way down to her long legs and that’s when she sees it. Chaeyoung is looking at Tzuyu’s legs but she’s also not, because right were they are there’s a human-sized fishtail, a mix of dark blue and purple and grey scales all shining before her. Chaeyoung looks back up and it feels like a veil was taken from her eyes and she’s seeing Tzuyu for the first time.

Her sharp eyes and quick smile, the curve of her nose, her cheekbones and the slim shade of eyebrows under her auburn hair, which looks almost dark now under the night sky. The soft lips Chaeyoung still feels lingering on her own.

She looks younger than ever but the way she moves, there’s something old about it and Chaeyoung wonders how long she’s actually been around. It can’t be just a couple of decades. Tzuyu holds herself like priceless art.

“You-”

“It’s not you who needs to ask for it,” she says, “ _I_ need to give it to you of my own desire.”

When Chaeyoung fails to formulate words she continues, pushing a couple of blonde strands behind Chaeyoung’s ears and once again the girl leans into her touch. “I gave you something. It might not be what you want, it might not be what you need, but it is something I think you deserve.” She leans in to leave a warm kiss on Chaeyoung’s cheek. “Will you enjoy it for me?”

Her world is still spinning but Chaeyoung nods, out of all the things swirling incessantly in her head she knows that it’s right to trust Tzuyu. She has never met anyone as honest as her and she probably never will.

So Chaeyoung nods. “Okay.” It doesn’t even dawn on her to ask what it is Tzuyu granted her. She doesn’t need to ask, she’s confident she’ll know.

Tzuyu smiles and it’s like the opposite of an eclipse, Chaeyoung is seeing the moon obfuscated by the sun right in front of her, a daybreak in the middle of the night. She removes her hand from Chaeyoung’s face once again.

“I have to go now.”

When she sees it Chaeyoung already has one of her hands wrapped around Tzuyu’s wrist, lightly holding the girl at bay. She blinks, unsure of how to say what she feels and Tzuyu turns her dark eyes back at her, intensity flaring. “Do you want to come with me?”

“No,” Chaeyoung shakes her head, soft smile dancing on her lips, she knows what to say now. “I just wanted one last look.”

Tzuyu mirrors her expression back at her. “You’re someone to be proud of Chaeyoung, I know it.”

Chaeyoung lets go of her wrist and she watches as Tzuyu slips back into the obsidian waters underneath her. She waits for a bit, hoping she’ll surface again but deep down Chaeyoung knows she won’t, and she doesn’t.

She still sits there for a little longer, enjoying how the warm water leaps at her feet amidst the chilly wind. It’s already dark and it must be really late but Chaeyoung doesn’t want to leave yet. She just hopes her grandmother isn’t too worried.

“Chaeyoungie!” A voice calls out from behind her and Chaeyoung turns around immediately. She knows that voice.

A athletic woman is running down the pier with a bubbly smile, her black hair swinging left and right in a ponytail.

Chaeyoung gets up. “Momo?”

Momo reaches Chaeyoung and immediately pulls her in for a hug. “Hey,” she says, swaying around like a puppy.

“You’re supposed to still be in Japan.”

Momo looks at her funny. “Nope, I got to come home early because I did really well on my final choreography presentation.”

Chaeyoung beams at Momo’s proud voice, she hasn’t seen the girl since she left to study dance in Japan, and as she feels the last of the cold dissipate from inside her, replaced by the fast beat of her heart at Momo’s kind eyes, Chaeyoung knows.

 _This_ is what Tzuyu gave her.

“I met your grandma when I passed by your place on my way home, she said to come get you ‘cause you’re late for dinner.” Momo pulls on one of her ears and Chaeyoung whines, swatting her hand away.

“Remember when you found me here years ago?” She fidgets with her fingers when the question leaves her lips, Momo is still the only girl that can make her nervous.

Tzuyu doesn’t count.

“Of course!” Momo laughs. “We saw dolphins that day, how could I forget?”

“I saw something today too.”

“Like, a whale or something?” Momo asks excitedly.

Chaeyoung just shakes her head. “A mermaid.”

Momo shoves her weakly, whining, “Aw c’mon, don’t mess with me like that.”

Momo starts to laugh, pulling on her hand and going on about how they should get going already because she was hungry again and now owed a new dinner as payment for her delivery service and of course, Chaeyoung still had to tell her everything about her new college.

She doesn’t feel like explaining everything now, not that Chaeyoung needs to worry about it, she knows Momo would love and support her through anything. She’s Chaeyoung’s childhood best friend, the older girl who was always a bit too clumsy for herself but still did her best to be a good example to Chaeyoung.

That’s also why she’s Chaeyoung’s first love.

And now that Momo’s arm is linked with hers and the taller girl is babbling on about things they can do together now that they’re both in town Chaeyoung laughs with her, goes along with her, says she’ll be the one helping out with dinner so Momo will have to do the dishes after.

She doesn’t worry anymore.

The words Tzuyu said float back to her mind, ‘the sea is so vast you never meet the same thing twice’, and as she looks back again to the pitch black sea, quiet and imposing, she knows that Tzuyu was right, and she’s glad out of all the creatures living under there she had a chance to meet someone like Tzuyu for whatever time they had.

Momo calls her name again and Chaeyoung turns her back to the ocean.

Maybe she’ll take diving lessons before going back home. There’s a reef she wants to see.

**Author's Note:**

> i have a twitter btw, you can catch me @myozakis


End file.
